History
EirGrid was established under Irish and European laws including the European Communities (Internal Market in Electricity) Regulations, 2000, to enable competition in the Irish power sector. It took over operation of the national power system on July 1, 2006. While ESB (the Electricity Supply Board) currently holds ownership of the physical assets, a government white paper on energy policy proposes transferring ownership of the transmission assets to EirGrid in order to encourage competition and benefit consumers. This has been backed up in a commitment by the previous government's Framework for Economic Recovery and a statement by Eamon Ryan, the then Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, that he was establishing a process for this transfer.
The transmission assets constitute 6,500 km of overhead line and underground cable, as well as over 100 bulk substations. The system's significance for competition is that most large independent generators connect to the transmission system and utilise it to transport their power to all regions. EirGrid also operates the wholesale power market.
In October 2008, EirGrid launched a long-term strategy for developing the transmission system, entitled Grid25. The strategy proposes doubling the capacity of the transmission grid, to support economic growth, integrating more renewable energy and regional development. It will comprise an investment of €4 billion. On 22 August 2008, EirGrid agreed to buy System Operator Northern Ireland. This was finalised in Spring 2009, following regulatory approval by the Irish Government, H.M. Government and the Northern Ireland Executive.
EirGrid announced in April 2010 that a proposal called "Grid 25" would enable it to create an additional 300 jobs in the Republic of Ireland. In September 2012 Eirgrid completed the 500 MW East–West Interconnector submarine cable between Ireland and Great Britain.
Read more about this topic: Eir Grid
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